AN ACCIDENTAL SIMILARITY

This dragonfly card is one I made to send to one of my Demonstrator friends whom I swap with each week. You'll notice there isn't a lot of stamping on this card; instead, it's pretty much made up of doodles, punches, and bling. Whenever I reach for a punch, my mind just seems to relax because the "work" is being done for me. Love that! The second card is one that I made to send to my grandmother. She hasn't been feeling well since the first of the year, so I try to send a card to her from time to time. You know what a nice feeling it is when you send someone a card and then when you visit, you find the card on display in their home? Well, that's what it's like when I go to mamaw's! She doesn't just have the most recent card out where she can see it, she has a lot of my cards sitting around. Sometimes cards can take a lot of time and product, and you really don't mind that "investment" when you know that your creation will be appreciated--and kept. For mamaw's card, I used a non-SU stamp and a design that was 99.9% CASE'd. I know . . . shame on me . . . but I made someone's day a little brighter, so that makes it okay. Isn't it odd that these two cards--made for two special people at two different times--both have the same shades of color? Purely accidental!

I LEARNED A NEW TECHNIQUE!!!!!

I LOVE this technique!!! It's called Magic Pattern. I need to make another card using this technique so I can be sure that I can teach it. This card got "built" as I went along, so I didn't really know where I was going with this one! I used Watercolor Crayons and an Aqua Painter to color the fisherman, and I used Watercolor Pencils and a Blender Pen to give the fish some subtle, coordinating color. I purchased the stamp set, "On the Fly," a couple of months ago, but this was the first time I've used it. I really like it! It's a small set, but it seems to have everything that you need to create a project. You know how some stamp sets are just like that? Other SU products used include Photo Corners punch, Coluzzle, Stampin' Dimensionals (under the fish), Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel (sponged w/Chocolate Chip ink), and Chocolate Chip card stock, and the "Sanded" background stamp.

"EMBRACE LIFE" TUNNEL CARD

Now that Christmas is behind us, it's time to pick up the stamps again! In this post, I'm sharing pictures of a tunnel card that I made using the brand new "Embrace Life" stamp set. All the flowers were watercolored using ink and an aqua painter. To cut the oval for the "tunnel," I used a Coluzzle template.

If you're thinking that I should have cut the ovals a bit larger, you're correct. ;-) At the time, I wasn't sure what I would stamp inside the tunnel , and I should have waited to cut the oval window after deciding.

TIME WITH SU IS TIME WELL SPENT!

If you're going to spend time representing a company, you should really like the company, right? Well, I REALLY like SU!! Granted, there are many companies that offer products which could possibly cater to my stamping addiction, but I can honestly say that SU treats me better than any of them! Last Thursday, I received a FREE stamp set . . . delivered to my front door. As a way of letting Demonstrators know that they are appreciated, SU sent us this awesome stamp set . . . "Time Well Spent" . . . which is a Level 3 Hostess set in the Spring/Summer Collection (new catalog) which will debut in January. The "happiness" sentiment is from a current Level 2 hostess set (Word on Word). My sister's birthday is on 11/22, so I made this card for her. Shhh . . . don't tell her that it's on my blog! I watercolored the stamped images on this gate fold card using watercolor pencils, Classic ink, a blender pen, and an aqua painter. The faux stitching was created with SU's white gel pen.